Party of 3 on a quiet afternoon. There is nobody in the restaurant, yet we have to wait 30 minutes to be seated despite our reservation. I am a pollo vegetarian (chicken only) so this was of utmost priority.... there was ONE choice of dish on the menu for me, so I ordered it. I was handed my chicken, bit into it and believed it to be FISH. I called the waitress over to ask what it was? "Chicken. It's chicken." I ate it, then found out it was *definitely* fish (bones) and ran to the washroom to vomit. I called the waitress over again to point out the error and the results of that error (vomiting and sick). "You ate it. I will not take it off the bill." I paid an inordinate amount of money to be ill.

BAD SERVICE.
NOT WORTH MONEY AT ALL. I'D RATHER STARVE THAN GO BACK TO THIS RESTAURANT.

A table of 10, Saturday evening, and the specialty is steak and fries. 9 out of 10 people order a steak. The wait staff mis delivered 2 of them, and when one person had started to eat theirs, the wait staff wanted to take it away because it was supposed to be for someone else. Another steak had to be cooked, while the rest of us happily ate ours.
The wait staff seemed absolutely baffled if you told them that whatever they were delivering to you was not actually for you i.e. "Here is your caesar salad" to which I replied "I"m sorry, but I ordered the soup". They looked at you like you had changed your mind since they took the order!
Buns on the table were delivered, for 6 people only.....and there were 10 of us.
And how long can it possibly take to make dessert that was actually on the 'specials' board? We thought at one point they had gone out to get it ....
I'm sorry, but the food was mediocre and therefore overpriced for being mediocre. And the service was really poor.
We won't be returning and won't recommend the place to anyone.

This is not the place for take-out, everytime I have called ahead so I can pick up food at lunch (which no other place struggles so hard with), they can't do it on time. I've been given different excuses like, they want it to be fresh so it tastes good, or that they get ripped off by people placing orders. Well after a few times, one would think maybe they could write me a reference for picking up the food I order. The only thing that keep me coming back is the best veggie burger in town. It's really good. I've had a benny there, which was good too but very low on the sauce (Maybe a by-product of take-out too).

I have been to Heron Rock Bistro multiple times over the past few years, day and night.

Food (4.5):

1. Excellent. Fresh, cooked to perfection, mostly local and organic, and various housemade creations.

2. My favourite dinners have been the sesame-crusted Albacore Tuna (blue), as well as the Lamb Burger -- very flavourful and delicious fries. However, the chef(s) special(s) have hit the spot every time.

Service (2-4 stars):

1. Service is inconsistent. I have had very nice and very knowledgeable, as well as not particularly nice nor knowledgeable. They seem to have lost a few of their best servers, but overall it is still solid.

2. Owners are young locals and seem great.

3. I've been there on a very busy Sunday when they were understaffed on the floor. Food is expected to be slow, but the service couldn't keep up either. Forgivable for a newish/growing place.

Value (4 stars):

1. Some excellent value on the menu. Prices have gone up a bit over the years, but the place remains a good deal. They seem to have to keep their prices down to keep the locals but also raise prices to keep things local/organic, etc.

2. The neighbourhood feel of the place adds value, for me, as does the ambience.

Ambience (4-5 stars)

1. Usually a good-to-great ambience -- lively yet relaxing.

2. If you can, go on a night when there's live music. I have caught 2-3 amazing local acts there (various jazz).

3. I have been in for just a couple of drinks, before. They have a very nice bar (literally) as well as a nice selection of local brews. The coffee is really good, too.

4. Owners seem very nice and well-meaning. Have been continually improving the place and the menus.

Summary (4-4.5):

This is a great neighbourhood bistro that I HIGHLY recommend. Except for the top few fine dining places in town, you rarely get consistently good service in Victoria (or Toronto, for that matter).

Go for the good, stay for the ambience, check out the brunch.

I live and work in James Bay, so I go to the Heron Rock fairly frequently (at least twice a month), usually for breakfast or lunch. Over the years, very little has changed... the service has always been slow and a bit unfriendly, but the food quality and convenient location always kind of made up for it. However, after my most recent experience, I have given them my business for the last time.

On that day, we arrived about 11:30 for lunch, and were seated fairly promptly. The server took our beverage order and it was also delivered promptly, although she did forget about our milk-not-cream request. When that was rectified, she took our orders - we were each having sandwiches with salad, so these arrived in a reasonable timeframe - about 15 minutes. However, as I was eating my salad, I discovered a hair on my sandwich, so I stopped eating to wait for the server, who had disappeared. About five minutes later, I flagged her down when she came out of the kitchen and she inspected the sandwich carefully before taking it back and telling me they would make me a new one, which arrived about ten minutes after that. By this time, my companion had finished his lunch, but his empty plate was left to linger until well after I was finished. Twenty minutes later, we finally found her to ask for our bill, and lo and behold, the sandwich had been charged to me.

At this point, the manager happened to come over to ask how our meal was, and we told him about the hair. He did not apologize, but simply made a joke. When the server returned, we asked her if my meal would be comped and she informed us after another ten minute conference in the kitchen that they could do it this time, but they wouldn't normally do it because a new sandwich had been made for me. So... if I get another hairy sandwich at the Heron Rock, that will be the policy? Uh... I don't think it's good practice to tell me about "the next time" that this might happen... I'd prefer to think that it was a rare occurrence.... right?

We paid the remainder of our bill and left feeling ripped off. We did feel slightly vindicated to notice that while this was happening, three tables were seated and then left because their orders were not taken and they were tired of waiting.

Sorry Heron Rock... I'm going elsewhere next time.

I Stopped in here one night as it is about a block away from my house. I treated myself to a great big New York Steak with frits. The steak was quite good but the frits were way too rich and the garlic butter dip that came with it was also extremly rich. The meal tasted great but was quite expensive and because it was so rich I ended up getting ill after eating there. A Steak and frits with one glass of wine ended up running me $37.00 Dollars!!!! The Atmosphere was excellent though, very quite with nice dim lighting .....a very comfortable setting. The Servie was also great and the waitress treated me very well. Unfortunately because I got ill after eating there I will not be returning.

I was taken here for my birthday by a friend who lives in the neighbourhood. We had heard good things about the food. We went on a Wed. night. I ordered the lamb shanks and my friend had the albacore tuna. When it was served, neither dish was hot, just barely warm. We waited for the waiter to come by to re-heat the dishes but he never re-appeared. We waited a very long time for the plates to be cleared. Finally another waiter cleared the table and asked how dinner was. We explained about the poor service and warm food. She had the original waiter come over and apologize but didn't comp the meal or offer a reduction. I wrote a long letter to the owners explaining our bad experience but never received a response. I'll never go back.